Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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A day of minor discoveries:
There do, in fact, exist trains that get one from Scotland to Manchester in a reasonable amount of time. I thought they were a myth. I also discover that the demographic most likely to strike up conversations with me are middle aged to elderly women, is it my honest appearance? I do enjoy talking with them, but I wish younger women would try. Maybe they have daughters, next time I will strive to ask.
I should go find a job in hostage negotiation. Why? When I first settled in the UK, I was quite dismayed to find out that my extended family here don't really get along (well, except with me, but I haven't been here long enough to piss anyone off, nor do I intend to). "Not getting along" is an understatement, certain branches have refused to speak to each other for almost as long as I've been alive. I'm beginning to think my parents sheltered me from such news in my youth. Seeing this, I kinda took it upon myself to mend bridges. The current agenda is to get a cousin to talk to two great uncles, one great-aunt, and another uncle. He's a good guy, and while it's his dad that caused things to devolve into a Cold War, I've ascertained or elicited the fact that nobody else seems to hold it against him. Most haven't seen him since he was the height of my knee, and apparently I'm the first to share any pictures at all. Primary tactic is to point out to my cousin that I get along with him, and that our uncle gets along with me, which, assuming transivity, implies they'll get along with each other. They definitely share a fondness for the most ridiculously loud suits I've ever seen, though one raids Vinted and the other Temu. If I had a wife, I'd leave this to her. Alas, wishing I wasn't single doesn't change things, and apparently my own grandma was great about keeping a boisterous family from going for the throat, and so is my mom. Maybe the inherited gene is X-linked.
I ended up here, visiting one great-uncle at the behest of another. Unfortunately, it seems the latter was rather vague about what he planned to do with me. I find myself with no clear plans for the weekend, but making quite pleasant conversation despite the age gap, though I discovered that they also have the world's loudest burglar alarm when I tried to tiptoe downstairs to retrieve my headphones.
I was arguing with @Fruck about the correct way to initiate absolute novices into the productive use of LLMs. I used the example of my own dearly departed grandma, but here, I hope her very much alive sister-in-law and her husband will suffice. Telling her to anthromorphize ChatGPT as "almost a human" and telling her that "it's very smart" seemed to capture intended behavior and convey the desired lesson. "Where does he live?" She asks in suspicion. "Probably in a computer a few blocks away", I say, eliding details unimportant to an 85yo lady. I taught it to speak to her in her native language by default, I taught her to use it to find the weather forecast, her husband to do... something. They were immensely shocked to find out that some women fall in love with it, by the sheer competence of the voice mode, especially after I used it to debug a printer old enough to vote. I would have, given the time, figured out that the print queue had about 500 pages of junk in it, or that the despite my great-uncle replacing the printer cartridges, the blinking red light did actually mean they weren't seated correctly. But I value my sanity, and fixing printers isn't the best way to keep it. It also probably saved them a decent amount of money on the technician they were trying to call (the bloke was enjoying a bank holiday), and I didn't even charge them more than a very delicious Indian dinner.
No, a model of iPhone 12 years old will not run ChatGPT. No, not even in Safari. I saw error codes no man was meant to see. He says he will buy a new one, or at least a model launched this decade. His wife quickly points out that he is lying.
A 4yo Android will. Even if it runs Android Go, and takes a good 10 minutes to reboot. Even if the keyboard encourages thoughtful typing by running at 5 Hz. The far older iPhone is still far zippier, and I hope Google takes note.
My great-uncle was a GP. His stories are wild. The early NHS is nigh unimaginable. Many stories of incredible amenities, like midnight snacks for doctors, or almost as believable, free housing. He was paid £60 starting out, he told me. "Per hour?" I asked. "No, each month". I heard tales of medical malpractice that boggles the imagination. A GP they knew tried to prescribe adult doses of paracetamol and some antibiotic to a 3yo child. It was caught by a pharmacist before someone died, but the lady kept working for a good few years longer before a bloke from higher up showed up and politely told her to resign within 24 hours.
My own actual grandpa used to teach my great-uncle back in med school, charging a modest rate. The latter did not get a refund after marrying the former's sister.
Do not grow old in a distant land. If you find yourself in such a position, it is very sensible to sell property you bought at around £20,000 for about 200 times that much (not inflation adjusted). Your friends will grow old too. Your family, if you have any, will move to the big city. Come home, to the Third World that was your first, and live the last of your days in nigh unimaginable luxury.
Should I buy a 20 year old BMW with less than 50k miles? Apparently the stories of cars lovingly maintained by grannies who only drive them to the shop are - sometimes - real.
Business class tickets give you a 100+ kg luggage allowance. I do not know how two senior citizens managed to transport half their old home to an even older one while availing of this, but I do know they miss not having the fine china at hand for their honored guest.
There was once a time when you actually couldn't get Indian food in the UK without accosting kindly strangers and navigating shady alleys. Now? Can't throw a rock without knocking the tikka butter masala out of someone's hands.
I need to marry someone who is a good cook. From their stories, social bonds with friends, colleagues and neighbors were sparked by the aroma of excellent Indian cooking, and cemented unshakably for decades once they got to actually taste the food.
This is £2000 per month in today’s money. Not massively high, but amazing to see what inflation has done over the years.
Almost all in 1975, I’m not sure why.
That's a pretty accurate guess! Of course, the fact that they had free and very decent housing, that made the wages go much further. I almost get the impression that several commodities and amenities have shifted greatly in relative pricing. Property was cheap, food expensive. A doctor they knew was said to spend an incredible amount of money on food, and we're talking groceries, not dining out. I couldn't spend a thousand pounds on normal food at a Tesco today if I tried.
When my father was growing up, chicken costed as much as steak. And not because steak was cheap! They hadn’t really invented intensive farming.
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